California Child Victims Act (AB 218): What It Does and Who It Covers

AB 218, often called the California Child Victims Act, is a 2019 law that gave survivors of childhood sexual abuse more time to file a civil lawsuit. The deadline became, generally, age 40 or five years after discovering the harm, whichever is later. It also briefly reopened expired claims, a window that closed at the end of 2022, and allowed up to triple damages for a cover-up.

Many survivors do not connect what happened to them with a legal claim until years later. California law was written with that in mind, and this article explains how, in plain terms.

What AB 218 Actually Changed Under California Law

Governor Newsom signed AB 218 in October 2019, and it took effect on January 1, 2020. It amended California Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1, the statute that governs civil claims for childhood sexual abuse.

A statute of limitations is the deadline the law sets for filing a lawsuit. After it passes, a court will generally dismiss the claim, however strong it is.

AB 218 made three core changes:

1. It extended the forward-looking deadline for survivors whose claims had not yet expired.
2. It created a three-year revival window for claims that had already expired under the older law.
3. It added treble damages, meaning up to triple damages, against a defendant proven to have covered up the abuse.

AB 218 governs civil lawsuits only. A civil case is brought by the survivor to seek money damages; a criminal prosecution is brought by the government. A civil claim does not depend on whether anyone was ever charged. The differences are set out in more detail in civil vs. criminal cases.

How the Statute of Limitations Works Under CCP 340.1

The deadline AB 218 set applies today to childhood sexual abuse that occurred on or before December 31, 2023. Under it, a survivor generally has until age 40 to file a civil claim, or five years from the date they discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that a psychological injury in adulthood was caused by the abuse, whichever is later.

The second half of that rule is called the discovery rule: the clock can start when a survivor connects their harm to the abuse, not necessarily when the abuse happened. That connection often comes late, and the law treats that timing as ordinary.

Before AB 218, the deadline was age 26, or three years from discovery.

For childhood sexual abuse occurring on or after January 1, 2024, the current text of section 340.1 states that "there is no time limit for the commencement of" these actions. That rule did not revive any expired claim, and earlier abuse is still measured under the AB 218 rule.

Deadlines turn on specific facts: date of birth, when the abuse occurred, when the harm was understood, and who the defendant is. A breakdown of deadlines by abuse date appears in the overview of the California sexual abuse statute of limitations.

The Revival Window: Claims That Were Previously Time-Barred

A revival window is a set period during which the legislature allows expired claims to be filed anyway. AB 218 opened one on January 1, 2020, and it closed on December 31, 2022. A claim that depended on it had to be filed by that date.

It helps to keep two groups apart:

• Revival claims belonged to survivors whose deadline had already passed before 2020. Those claims needed the window.
• Prospective claims belong to survivors still within their deadline when AB 218 took effect. For them, the forward-looking rule described above applies, and the window's closing does not affect them.

Later legislative activity, including AB 452, has drawn attention, but AB 452 revived nothing.

Treble Damages for Institutional Cover-Up

Treble damages means damages multiplied by up to three. The statute reads:

"In an action described in subdivision (a), a person who is sexually assaulted and proves it was as the result of a cover up may recover up to treble damages against a defendant who is found to have covered up the sexual assault of a minor, unless prohibited by another law."

The statute defines the term narrowly: "a 'cover up' is a concerted effort to hide evidence relating to childhood sexual assault." The word "concerted" points to coordinated conduct, not a single oversight.

The defendant in a cover-up claim is typically an institution, such as a school, church, youth organization, or employer. The phrase "unless prohibited by another law" means some defendants may be shielded from enhanced damages by other statutes.

Proving a cover-up takes evidence beyond the abuse itself, such as internal communications, prior complaints and how they were handled, and personnel decisions, usually gathered from the institution's own records.

Who Can Be Named as a Defendant Under AB 218

Section 340.1 covers an action against the person who committed the abuse, and also actions against "any person or entity who owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, if a wrongful or negligent act by that person or entity was a legal cause of the childhood sexual assault."

In practice, potential defendants can include:

• The individual perpetrator.
• Institutions that employed, supervised, or had custody of that person, such as schools, religious organizations, youth sports programs, foster care agencies, and juvenile facilities. These claims often rest on negligent hiring, supervision, or retention, theories explained further in the guide to institutional sexual abuse.
• Government entities, such as a public school district.

Claims against public entities ordinarily require a written claim to be presented to the entity before any lawsuit. Under Government Code section 905, subdivision (m), claims made under section 340.1 are exempt from that presentation requirement for local public entities, such as school districts, counties, and cities. Subdivision (p) made that change retroactive.

Claims against the State of California itself follow a different provision, and the exemption there is narrower, reaching only conduct on or after January 1, 2024.

"Childhood sexual assault" under section 340.1 means acts committed against someone under 18 that would have violated listed Penal Code sections, including Sections 285, 288, 289, and 647.6, or earlier California laws of similar effect. Abuse after age 18 falls under a different statute, discussed separately under adult sexual assault.

What the Civil Lawsuit Process Generally Looks Like

A civil claim begins with a complaint filed in a California Superior Court, usually in the county where the abuse occurred or where a defendant is located.

Where the survivor is 40 or older when the case is filed, section 340.1 requires certificates of merit from the survivor's attorney and from a licensed mental health practitioner who is not the survivor's treating provider. The defendant is not served until the court has reviewed them.

Next comes discovery, when each side gathers information, often institutional records, personnel files, and depositions. Survivors are usually able to seek privacy protections. Most civil cases resolve by settlement before trial, and the process can take months or years.

Survivors in these cases are typically represented on a contingency basis: the attorney is paid a share of any recovery, and if there is no recovery, there is generally no attorney fee. Each of these stages is walked through on the California sexual abuse lawsuit page.

California Resources for Survivors

• RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), and rainn.org.
• California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA): calcasa.org.
• Zero Abuse Project: a research and policy resource, at zeroabuseproject.org.
• California Courts self-help resources: courts.ca.gov.
• The State Bar of California: attorney referral information, at calbar.ca.gov.

If You Have Questions, Privately

If abuse happened to you or to someone close to you as a child in California, you may have the right to pursue a civil claim, against the person responsible and sometimes against an institution that failed to protect you. Through a civil claim, the law allows a survivor to seek compensation for emotional harm, therapy and medical costs, lost income, and other damages the law allows, and in some cases the justice of a court finding about what an institution did. California has extended and changed its deadlines more than once, so options may exist even when the abuse happened many years ago.

A confidential case review covers the practical questions: which deadline applies based on dates alone, whether an institution or public entity could be part of a claim, and how privacy is protected. It is free, carries no obligation, and nothing needs to be organized first. No one has to describe what happened in order to ask.

To ask a private attorney what this means for your situation, call Justice for Survivors at (866) 694-1630 for a confidential case review.